Playing to the gallery

The Lanka Samasamaja Party (LSSP) in a statement issued to the media (published in The Island yesterday) has demanded that relief measures be adopted to protect the non-wage earners and pay hikes be granted to the wage earners immediately in view of the high cost of living. One cannot but be on all fours with the LSSP on this demand. The steep rise in prices of essential commodities coupled with the sliding rupee has dealt a solar phalanx punch to the average man.

But the LSSP, a constituent party of the ruling People's Alliance (PA) appears to be on a guilt trip. While being an ally of the PA, sharing cabinet responsibility and enjoying perks and privileges, the LSSP appears to be making an attempt to avoid the wrath of the public by taking exception to the government policies that have dragged the country to the present mire.

The LSSP tries to make the public believe that it is really taking on the government by saying, "... we may mention the disenchantment of the people with the government on its failure to effectively combat corruption and waste or promote good governance. The government has also to demonstrate through action its determination to promote austerity at all levels..." Where has the LSSP been all this while? And what contribution has it made towards battling corruption and bringing about good governance?

What is the LSSP's solution to the problem of high cost of living? It is chanting the manthram, "stop the war." It says, "The inflationary situation which has brought about a continued escalation of the prices of essential commodities and services is the price the people pay for the civil war that is being carried out with an exorbitantly high level of war expenditure." It advocates that it is 'only through a de-escalation of the war and the expenditure incurred on it that lasting solutions can be found for the prevailing economic problems.

So, according to the LSSP so long as the conflict goes on, the people will have to suffer. But the question is: How to put an end to the war with the LTTE not amenable to the government's solution as envisaged in its draft constitution (the Package) which it has rejected lock stock and barrel? And the LSSP wants the same Package ratified by Parliament notwithstanding the LTTE's rejection of it. It faults the UNP and the JVP for not having extended support for the still-born Package.

As for de-escalation - a condition that the LTTE too has laid down - the LSSP should realise that immediately after assuming office, the PA de-escalated the war in 1994 and a ceasefire came to be. But who stood to gain from de-escalation?

The LTTE consolidated power in the east that had been cleared by the previous administration. Today the LTTE is strong in both provinces - the north and the east..

The LSSP talks of defence expenditure incurred by the government. That the government had failed to allocate sufficient funds to the war effort was manifest in the fall of the gateway garrison, Elephant Pass last year .Opposition Leader Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe, it should be recalled, said in Parliament following the debacle that it was not on the salterns that Elephant Pass had been lost but on the banks of Beira, where the Treasury is. There would have been no need for panic buying of military expenditure that the LSSP is worried about, had the army been properly equipped over the years systematically.

Thus it should be clear that it is lack of prudence on the part of the government of which the LSSP is an integral part, that has caused the war to drag on and sent defence expenditure up unnecessarily. Despite the government having learnt bitter lessons from de-escalation and foolish cost cutting exercises that have cost the state a number of strategic military installations (like Elephant Pass) and a great deal of military equipment (like long range weapons) and spent billions on sophisticated military hardware, the LSSP is now calling for de-escalation once again.

The LSSP also attributes the economic difficulties the country is experiencing to high oil prices in the world market. Although it is true that a country like Sri Lanka imports inflation together with the commodities from abroad, if a government puts the economy on a strong footing, a crisis of this magnitude can be averted.

The solution for the present economic problems is certainly not resorting to anything like de-escalation or cutting down on defence expenditure, which are sure to strengthen the LTTE militarily and bring about division of the country. Instead what is required is for the government to manage the economy efficiently, rid itself - especially the defence establishment - of corruption and fight the war with the single minded pursuit of winning it. It is too futile a task to attempt to develop the country without first eliminating hydra headed terrorism and corruption.

This is what the parties like the LSSP should give serious thought to without playing to the gallery.

Your comments to the Editor